The Seven Network is refuting Channel Nine’s claim it is the first Australian broadcaster to launch addressable TV, with Seven spruiking its own launch in October of last year.

The row kicked off over the weekend as Nine debuted its real addressable advertising solution to the Australian market through 9Now, its broadcast video on demand (BVOD) product.

While Nine said it was the first Aussie broadcaster to introduce ‘real addressable TV’, Seven has released a statement countering the claim, adding it has had its own addressable offering since late last year.

Speaking to B&T, a Seven West Media (SWM) spokesperson said: “The Seven Network launched Addressable TV at scale in Australia during the Rugby League World Cup in October 2017.

“We have since delivered addressable TV for hundreds of clients and campaigns through our live streamed network programming, the 2018 Australian Open, Winter Olympics, 2018 Commonwealth Games and every day since.”

According to Nine, the broadcaster has a database of more than 6.5 million user IDs, however, Seven is yet to provide its own figures of scale.

Speaking on the solution’s scale, Nine commercial director of digital sales Pippa Leary said: “At Nine we have 6.5m signed in users and you can now target them on every single device – including a connected television.”

Despite Seven’s refusal to disclose numbers to the public, the SWM spokesperson has explained the inner workings of the network’s offering.

The SWM spokesperson said: “We target digital video advertising based on a combination of first-party data secured from logged-in and verified 7plus users who opt-in currently through our web and mobile OTT platforms and soon on Connected TVs, alongside premium second and third party data partnerships including TEG and Quantium.

Adding: “We are excited by the potential that addressable TV advertising has for the whole TV industry and expect this and other industry innovations to continue to grow the market.

“And we’re looking forward to the ongoing evolution of TV across broadcast, Hybrid TV and BVOD and the accompanying benefits to brand and advertisers.”